


Sight Unseen

by renaissance



Series: #jbweek [4]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: F/M, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-01
Updated: 2014-10-01
Packaged: 2018-02-19 11:47:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2387171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/renaissance/pseuds/renaissance
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If he asks, he may no longer trust her, which would be worse than not knowing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sight Unseen

**Author's Note:**

> Day 4's theme is "one scene," so naturally I chose a scene that hasn't actually happened. Also, I decided that I needed to flex my drabble muscles, so this is shorter than my usual fare. Apologies in advance.

[curtains open]

The sunlight is fading from the sky above the forest, and a tall woman, covered in scars and bruises, leads a man dressed in gleaming white armour. It has been a long time since they last tread these paths side-by-side, but they remember it as though it were yesterday. They had been on very different terms, that first time. Now, there is a sense of ease between them.

Yet tension lingers still. She barely talks, and he cannot bring himself to ask why.

[ravens in the distance, they ignore the noise]

He does not ask where they are going, because he does not want to know the answer. He trusts her—he has trusted her with his life, and she has trusted him with hers. If he asks, he may no longer trust her, which would be worse than not knowing.

She turns to look at him, a sad expression on her face. He gives her a smile that she cannot return. She wants to tell him where she’s taking him, but she can’t. There are so many reasons why she can’t, but not one of them is that she doesn’t want to.

[light breeze through the trees, leaves fall to the ground]

Sunset comes earlier in Winter, and Winter spreads its wings and flies down from the North. Come from the North too is Vengeance—displaced for the Summer but returned home to the Riverlands. So much mythology surrounds Winter, so many tales, but the truth is far worse than fiction.

It’s not the Others come for blood, but ordinary people, turned to hatred by fear.

She knows that she leads him to danger, to that hatred, but she cannot turn back. She tells herself she has a plan.

[first sign of rain, dark clouds closing in on the forest]

He can sense her fear, and he opens his mouth—once, twice—hoping that somewhere he still has some courage to speak. So he tells jokes, he recounts his travels, he tries to laugh. She does not smile once.

She’s always been like this—stoic and reserved. Never spoke much when they travelled together, spoke less when they weren’t travelling. But they know each other well. He knows her well enough to see her gait slow and sense her feet come to a stop, and he knows that they’ve reached their destination.

[nooses hanging from a tree, the air heavy with death]

He recognises the woman, the one who dresses like the Stranger and calls herself Vengeance. He thinks he knew it was her before she opened her neck to speak in strangled whispers, before he left his camp.

The Winter is harsh and bitter, and he can taste ash on his tongue as the Stranger condemns him.

But with the only person he trusts by his side, he knows he can face Death, and return stronger. He takes her hand.

[curtains close]

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a comment!


End file.
